Tuesday, June 11, 2013

La Isla Siargao Bar and Grill

The Ice Cream Man

The first afternoon in Siargao was spent eating cones of rocky road strawberry ice cream (strawberry ice cream peddled on the rocky road of General Luna), going on a joyride with the ice cream guy (he let us hitch a ride to Cloud 9, thanks Mr Ice Cream Man), and trying to surf (Php500/hour for board and instructor). After all these activities, we headed home to Traveler's Pension House and Beach Resort to shower and have dinner. The pension house had no restaurant. Too hungry to look for a place to eat, we stepped into the first restaurant we saw. The restaurant nearest to the pension house happened to be La Isla Siargao Bar and Grill.

We stepped into La Isla with bare feet. Slippers and sandals were parked on the wooden steps of the elevated restaurant, we followed suit, of course.

It was a nice, laid back restaurant with wooden floors, a bar at the center, some tables and chairs on the side, and a low table in the right corner where guests can sit on the floor and stretch out their legs.

The menu lists a bunch of seafood dishes for less than Php150 each. Being so used to stingy portions in Cebu, especially of seafood, I
had to ask the server how many shrimps were in the spicy garlic and pepper shrimps. I was skeptical when the server said it would contain more than eight
pieces of shrimp. Less than eight or more than eight shrimps, the name sounded so good. Spicy garlic and pepper shrimps it is. Friends chose the deep fried seafood and sweet and sour shrimps. Each of our dishes comes with rice.

I was delighted when the plate was set in front of
me. It did look like it had more than eight shrimps. In my disbelief I had to count them. Indeed, it was more
than eight...fifteen to be exact. On top of the generous serving size,
it was fresh, cooked just right, and tasty. My friends liked their food, too. The three of us agreed that, of the three dishes, the sweet and sour shrimps was tops. On top of that, a plateful of watermelon slices arrived on our table. Courtesy of the owner, Agnes. How generous!

Left to right: spicy garlic and pepper shrimps, deep fried seafood, and sweet and sour shrimps

On the second night, it was La Isla again. Seafood for less than Php150, I just couldn't resist. This time I had the spicy fish with orange zest and travel buddy had the kinilaw. The orange did give it a twist. And the kinilaw? I don't really eat kinilaw, but, hey, this was really good. It did not feel nor taste raw.

Spicy fish with orange zest (left) and kinilaw (right)

We usually don't go to the same restaurant twice because we want to try as many different places during a trip, but this was definitely worth going back for.

you had me laughing at the "rocky road"-literally- strawberry ice cream :D you are hands down the funniest blogger in Cebu, Mustachio. Your writing style and your sense of humor keep me glued to your blog. That spicy garlic and pepper shrimp looks delicious. How I wish you can find seafood as cheap as that here in Cebu!